S one who in his journey bates at noon,
Though bent on fpeed; fo here th' Arch-Angel
paus'd
Betwixt the world deftroy'd and world reftor'd,
If Adam ought perhaps might interpofe;
Then with transition sweet new speech refumes.
Thus thou haft feen one world begin and end;
And man as from a fecond stock proceed.
Much thou hast yet to fee, but I perceive
Thy mortal fight to fail; objects divine
Muft needs impair and weary human fenfe:
Henceforth what is to come I will relate,
Thou therefore give due audience, and attend.
This fecond fource of men, while yet but few,
And while the dread of judgment paft remains
Fresh in their minds, fearing the Deity,
With fome regard to what is just and right
Shall lead their lives, and multiply apace,
Lab'ring the foil, and reaping plenteous crop,
Corn, wine, and oil; and from the herd or flock,
Oft facrificing bullock, lamb, or kid,
With large wine-offerings pour'd, and facred feast,
Shall spend their days in joy unblam'd, and dwell
Long time in peace by families and tribes
Under paternal rule: till one shall rise
Hunting (and men not beasts shall be his game)
With war and hoftile fnare fuch as refuse
Subjection to his empire tyrannous :
A mighty hunter thence he fhall be stil'd
Before the Lord, as in defpite of Heaven,
Or from Heav'n claming second sovranty;
And from rebellion fhall derive his name,
Though of rebellion others he accuse.
He with a crew, whom like ambition joins
With him or under him to tyrannize,
Marching from Eden tow'ards the weft, fhall find 40
The plain, wherein a black bituminous gurge
Boils out from under ground, the mouth of Hell;
Of brick, and of that stuff they cast to build
A city' and tow'r, whofe top may reach to Heaven;
And get themfelves a name, left far difpers'd
In foreign lands their memory be lost,
Regardless whether good or evil fame.
But God, who oft defcends to visit men
Unfeen, and through their habitations walks
To mark their doings, them beholding foon,
Comes down to fee their city, ere the tower
Obftru&t Heav'n-tow'rs, and in derifion fets
Upon their tongues a various fpi'rit to rafe
Quite out their native language, and instead
To fow a jangling noife of words unknown :
Forthwith a hideous gabble rises loud
Among the builders; each to other calls
Not understood, till hoarfe, and all in rage,
As mock'd they form; great laughter was in Heaven
And looking down, to see the hubbub strange
And hear the din; thus was the building left
Ridiculous, and the work Confusion nam'd.
Whereto thus Adam fatherly difpleas'd.
O execrable fon fo to afpire
Above his brethren, to himself affuming
Authority ufurp'd, from God not given :
He gave us only over beast, fish, fowl,
Dominion abfolute; that right we hold
By his donation; but man over men
He made not lord; fuch title to himself
Referving, human left from human free.
But this ufurper his encroachment proud
Stays not on man; to God his tow'r intends
Siege and defiance: Wretched man! what food
Will he convey up thither to fustain
Himself and his rash army, where thin air
Above the clouds will pine his entrails gross,
And famish him of breath, if not of bread ?
To whom thus Michael. Juftly thou abhorr'st
That fon, who on the quiet ftate of men
Such trouble brought, affecting to fubdue
Rational liberty; yet know withal,
Since thy original lapse, true liberty
Is loft, which always with right reason dwells
Twinn'd, and from her hath no dividual being :
Reason in man obfcur'd, or not obey'd,
Immediately inordinate defires
And upftart paffions catch the government
From reason, and to fervitude reduce
Man till then free. Therefore fince he permits
Within himself unworthy pow'rs to reign
Over free reafon, God in judgment juft
Subjects him from without to violent lords;
Who oft as undefervedly inthrall
His outward freedom: tyranny must be,
Though to the tyrant thereby no excuse.
Yet fometimes nations will decline fo low
From virtue, which is reafon, that no wrong,
But juftice, and fome fatal curfe annex'd,
Deprives them of their outward liberty,
Their inward loft: Witnefs th' irreverent fon
Of him who built the ark, who for the fhame
Done to his father, heard this heavy curfe,
Servant of fervants, on his vicious race.
Thus will this latter, as the former world,
Still tend from bad to worse, till God at laft
Wearied with their iniquities, withdraw
His prefence from among them, and avert
His holy eyes; refolving from thenceforth
To leave them to their own polluted ways;
And one peculiar nation to select
From all the rest, of whom to be invok'd,
A nation from one faithful man to fpring:
Him on this fide Euphrates yet refiding,
Bred up in idol-worship; O that men
(Canft thou believe?) fhould be so stupid grown, While yet the patriarch liv'd, who fcap'd the flood, As to forfake the living God, and fall
To worship their own work in wood and stone
For Gods! yet him God the most High vouchfafes 120 To call by vifion from his father's houfe,
His kindred and falfe Gods, into a land
Which he will fhew him, and from him will raise
A mighty nation, and upon him shower
His benediction fo, that in his feed
All nations shall be bleft; he ftrait obeys,
Not knowing to what land, yet firm believes :
I fee him, but thou canst not, with what faith
He leaves his Gods, his friends, and native foil
Ur of Chaldæa, paffing now the ford
To Haran, after him a cumbrous train
Of herds and flocks, and numerous fervitude;
Not wand'ring poor, but trufting all his wealth
With God, who call'd him, in a land unknown.
Canaan he now attains; I fee his tents
Pitch'd about Sechem, and the neighb'ring plain
Of Moreh; there by promife he receives
Gift to his progeny of all that land,
From Hamath northward to the defert fouth,
(Things by their names I call, though yet unnam'd) From Hermon caft to the great western sea;
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